It is barely spring here in the Creston Valley, and we’re just gearing up to go into pollination in the cherry orchards for which this place is famous. As I’d previously reported, we bought Swan Valley Honey last July and made the consequential leap of moving from the Vancouver area to Creston. As we wait […]

Beekeepers have an increasingly difficult time keeping their bees healthy. Whether it is mites, a stunning array of viruses, small hive beetle or the two versions nosema, Nosema apis and its more virulent cousin, Nosema ceranae, there seems no end of ways for bees to get sick and die. The Canadian and U.S. governments recently […]

Small Hive Beetle, a nasty little pest that B.C. has already had a small taste of, has raised its ugly head in Alberta. And, as seems to be the case so often these days, it is as a result of hitching a ride with an unsuspecting beekeeper. The situation in this case is much more […]

It’s that time. We’re pulling the first honey of the season off our new yards in Creston and getting it bottled for delivery to waiting customers. This week is an important one for us: we’re still in the midst of moving to Creston and are juggling two operations at Swan Valley Honey and at Honey […]

Honey Bee Zen Apiaries Ltd. has bought Swan Valley Honey, the primary producer of honey for the Kootenays. We’ll be moving to Creston this summer and will continue producing the products both companies are known for.

Amanda and I just came back from the North American Beekeeping Conference in Galveston, Texas, the annual confluence of the brightest minds and most wilful beekeepers you can imagine. This is the time of the year when beekeepers tend to charge up their minds; for the most part the bees are in bed for the […]

As a journalist I have been a fan of the New York Times for a long time. As a beekeeper, I have another reason to like them. Joanna Klein’s interesting take this week on explaining the life of a bee breaks a few journalist conventions. One, of course, is writing in the second person. But […]

About . . .

Honey Bee Zen Apiaries Ltd and its subsidiary, Swan Valley Honey Ltd., are known for their sustainable beekeeping practices and a growing list of terroir-based niche honeys.
Based in the verdant Creston Valley in B.C.'s Central Kootenay region, we produce award-winning honeys derived from a vast array of forages, including alfalfa, dutch clover, snowberry, thistle, wild fruits, fireweed, sweet clover and more. The land has provided our Swan Valley branded-honey a gentle, delectable, sweetness sought after throughout the province. We supply over 30 retail locations in B.C.
We are committed to working with farmers who respect the land they use and the bees we provide, and we seek out strong and beneficial relationships. We are interested in the science and breeding of bees, the production of honey and hive products, and trying to resolve the challenges bees and their keepers around the world face.